What my musings are all about...

Blogging might well be the 21st century's form of journaling. As a writing teacher, I have always advised my students to keep a daily journal as a way of organizing their thoughts for future writing projects, a discipline I have unfortunately never consistently practiced myself. By blogging, I might finally be able to follow my own good advice.

The difference between journaling and blogging is that the blogger opens his or her writing to the public, something journal- writers are usually reluctant to do. I am not so reticent.

The trick for me will be to avoid cluttering the internet with more blather, something none of us need more of. If I stick to subjects I know: sports and literature, I believe I can avoid that pitfall. I can't promise that I'll not stray from time to time to comment on ancillary subjects, but I will make every attempt to be interesting and perhaps even insightful.

Monday, June 4, 2012

On Recent Sporting News and etc

Dear Readers, were you as thoroughly disgusted with the numbers of commercials that interrupted Sunday's Memorial PGA golf finals as I was? One of the nicest things about watching golf on TV is it's peaceful transitions from the T to fareway to green with few interruption except for the calm and subdued voices of the commentators.

I have recently become a fan of golf playing and watching coinciding with my first feeble attempts at this frustrating sport, and I take back anything I ever said about golf not being a sport. I don't think I have ever seen a golf shot as difficult as the one Tiger made on the 16th to cinch his lead. Let's hope Tiger has finally conquered his demons and will go on to surpass Sam Snead's record of 82 PGA tournament wins. What a great athlete he is.

Speaking of sports commentators. What in the world does Shaq add to the EJ, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley triumvirate? Sir Charles is far funnier and Kenny more knowledgeable. All I can tell that Shaq does is add to the now interminable guffaws and confusion that prior to Shaq's arrival was manageable and endurable. I haven't heard one interesting insight into the game of basketball yet from Shaq. And all the back and forth between him and Charles is finally annoying and distracting. Adios Shaq and EJ. I'm tuning in to ESPN's Magic, Barry show for real basketball talk.

Despite my desire to see the "old guys" the Celts and Spurs win, I'm fascinated by a Heat Thunder match up. I'll be pulling for the Thunder. I like the steady and smart way they drafted and traded their way to a championship team. Mind you, I'm not against a bunch of good players getting together to play ball, but it's a bit like stacking the deck, isn't it like those playground days when all the best players chose each other so they could kick everybody else's butt and stay on the court.

Lots of ball players heading to the big game in the sky recently: Jack Twyman and Orlando Woolridge. To them I dedicate this poem. Not the most uplifting, but very interesting.

The Advantages of Being a World Class Athlete by Anthony Lacavaro

In the end when the doctors circle around
Like doctors, they can find nothing wrong,

A perfect body they murmur over
And over like a prehistoric discovery,

Nothing wrong, nothing wrong except it's dead.
There will be no reason for this tragedy

Which catapults your death into the world
Of public myth: were you too good

for us, did they take you, or were you not
Of this earth to begin with and just returned.

The results of the tests say nothing about it,
Though one of the doctors speaking

Out of turn, will say softly,
"One foot appears to be larger than the other."

Thomas Meschery, a son of Russian immigrants, he became the first international player to play in an NBA All-Star Game in 1963.

An All-American success story. Born in China in 1938, he came to the U.S. with his parents after WW II. An All-American at Lowell High School, San Francisco, and St. Mary's College, Moraga, California. He was the youngest player to named a first team AAU All-American. NBA Star for ten seasons. Noted as one of the toughest players in the NBA. His jersey number has been retired by both St. Mary's and Golden State Warriors. Inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.

Tom has published two books of poetry, 'Over the Rim' and 'Nothing You Lose Can Be Replaced' and a fourth-coming book of verse, 'Some Men'. He was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame in 2000.